US Vice President Joseph Biden said today in a speech at the Atlantic Council conference in Istanbul that it is time for Europe to improve energy security, warning against Russia's past practice of using energy as a weapon.
He said that Europe should reduce its dependence on oil and gas imports from Russia and find other sources of energy supplies.
Biden said that the crisis in Ukraine once again showed that "Russia uses energy as a form of political weapon against its neighbors. This is a big strategic problem," said Biden.
He added that Russia will continue to be and should be the main supplier of energy to Europe, reports AFP.
"Russia can be a player, but it must play by the rules of the game. It cannot be played with the game," said Biden.
He praised the steps taken by some members (such as Lithuania and Slovakia) to increase the number of sources from which they supply energy, but said:
"We cannot rest on our laurels, we have to finish the job. Now is the time to act".
He will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this afternoon on the shores of the Bosphorus to ease tensions in their bilateral relations due to the crisis in Syria and convince Turkey to increase aid to the coalition fighting the extreme jihadist organization Islamic State.
Washington is dissatisfied with the relatively limited role that Turkey is playing in the fight against the Islamic State, which has seized parts of Iraq and Syria near the Turkish border.
Turkey is unhappy that it is not being recognized for its contribution in taking in 1,6 million Syrian refugees and is not ready to lightly support the Kurds fighting Islamic State.
Biden personally insulted Erdogan last month by saying that his policy of supporting Islamist rebel forces in Syria fueled the rise of the Islamic State.
Because of this, Erdogan warned that his relations with another man in the USA could be "finished".
But the pragmatic Biden said upon his arrival in Istanbul that openness is a key feature of US-Turkish relations.
"Friends don't let friends ask what they think," he said.
Biden and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu agreed in their conversation yesterday that there is a need to defeat the Islamic State and to start a political transition in Syria, the US administration announced.
Bonus video:
